Wild Flag: Wild Flag [Album Review]

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Wild Flag
Wild Flag
Merge Records [2011]

The Fire Note headphone approved

I don’t think there are that many records that we know about a year in advance, but that is how long we have been tracking indie supergroup Wild Flag’s debut. The female four-piece brings a plethora of experience to the party, as Wild Flag consists of Sleater-Kinney guitarist/singer Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss, singer/guitarist Mary Timony of Helium fame, and keyboardist Rebecca Cole of The Minders, who were part of the Elephant Six family. Over the last ten years, the four musicians have either worked together, opened for each other, or both, so Wild Flag comes to us as a natural progression that is high energy, high quality, and high reward. It would have been easy for Wild Flag to recreate past glories, but they succeed in finding their own sound that is gracefully loud and catchy.

The music here was recorded live except for the vocals, which have the instruments jumping out of your speakers, but the arrangements are where Wild Flag stands out. The group’s veteran talent can shift quickly, as the lead-off track “Romance” switches multiple times from angular guitar work to the sing-along chorus, back to guitar, straight into hand claps, and back again. It makes me tired just writing about it, but that is the intensity that Wild Flag brings to the table, and that is only on the first track. This quick musical switching happens again and again with style and charm, making every track as exciting as the one that just finished. The band also is not afraid to extend their ideas, as “Glass Tambourine” and “Racehorse” pass the 5- and 6-minute mark, respectively. Many times a group of this nature has problems sounding like one unit, but Wild Flag not only sound all on the same page but have released a debut that feels like we would be calling them the next big thing, except they already are!

KEY TRACKS
“Romance” / “Future Crimes” / “Boom”

ARTISTS WITH SIMILAR FIRE
The Raincoats / Dum Dum Girls / The Coathangers

Christopher Anthony
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